ERIC EJ1085720: Listening to Parents' Narratives: The Value of Authentic Experiences with Children with Disabilities and Their Families

2015·0.19 MB·English

by  ERIC

Listening to Parents’ Narratives: The Value of
Authentic Experiences With Children With
Disabilities and Their Families
Margo Collier, Elizabeth B. Keefe, and Laura A. Hirrel
Abstract
A serious gap exists within special education preparation programs; many
neglect to adequately prepare teacher candidates to engage with parents of
children with disabilities to create effective family–school–community col-
laboration. The following article describes the impact on the practices and
dispositions of teacher candidates resulting from the implementation of a
program called Families as Faculty (FAF), which was collaboratively designed
and implemented by a university in the southwestern United States and the
statewide Parent Training and Information Center. Teacher preparation pro-
grams providing students with authentic experiences to work collaboratively
with parents can influence perceptions teacher candidates have toward parent
involvement and collaboration. The present study was designed to examine
the impact that the implementation of FAF in a graduate teacher preparation
course had on teacher candidates’ dispositions toward home–school collab-
oration. Data were collected during the course through teacher candidates’
reflection papers and pre- and post-questionnaires. Additionally, the teacher
candidates were administered a follow-up survey three years after they complet-
ed the course. Teacher candidates reported an increase in their understanding
and appreciation of home–school collaboration following their experiences in
FAF. Participants in the follow-up survey also indicated that these experiences
continued to have long-lasting, positive impacts on their teaching practices
and the school–family relationships they have formed with parents of children
with disabilities.
School Community Journal, 2015, Vol. 25, No. 2 221
Available at http://www.schoolcommunitynetwork.org/SCJ.aspx
SCHOOL COMMUNITY JOURNAL
Key Words: parent involvement, family–school–community collaboration, au-
thentic engagement, home visits, teacher preparation programs, preservice can-
didates, families’ narratives, reflection
Introduction
Teacher preparation programs face significant challenges in providing
teacher candidates with authentic experiences that emphasize the impor-
tance of family–school–community collaboration. Few teacher preparation
programs provide strategies for encouraging parents’ involvement in the edu-
cation of their children or for initiating a sense of collaboration with families
and the communities in which they live (Caspe, Lopez, Chu, & Weiss, 2011;
Curran & Murray, 2008; Murray, Handyside, Straka, & Arton-Titus, 2013;
Rodriguez-Brown, 2009). Epstein’s (1987) theory of overlapping spheres of
influence emphasizes that student academic success is best achieved through
collaborative interaction among schools, families, and communities. Working
together, these stakeholders are invested in socializing and educating children.
Schools, families, and communities have the potential to promote more suc-
cessful student outcomes (Sanders, 2006).
Cook and Friend (2010) refer to collaboration as the style professionals use
to interact with individuals that is based on mutual goals and parity, shared re-
sponsibility for primary decisions and accountability for outcomes, the creation
of trust and respect, and a sense of community. The term family–school–com-
munity collaboration connotes the multidimensional nature of teacher, parent,
and community interactions.
This article describes the impact on the practice and disposition of teacher
candidates resulting from the implementation of a program called Families
as Faculty (FAF), which was collaboratively designed and implemented by
a university in the southwestern U.S. and the statewide Parent Training and
Information Center to address this gap. The FAF program stressed the impor-
tance of parent involvement in school settings using a pedagogical approach
in which teacher candidates visited the homes of parents who had children
with disabilities, listened to family narratives, and later reflected upon these
visits. The FAF program provided teacher candidates authentic experiences
with families and offered strategies for incorporating family engagement into
teaching practices while placing parents and families in leadership roles. Such
opportunities have the capacity to influence teacher candidates’ perceptions to-
ward parent involvement and to increase the value they place on collaboration
(Campbell, Gilmore, & Cuskelly, 2003).
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Supportive relationships between schools and families have long been
considered vital in providing effective educational services and supports for
children with disabilities (Colarusso & O’Rourke, 2007). Numerous stud-
ies have documented that positive relationships between schools and parents
are associated with enhanced academic achievement and overall student suc-
cess for children, including children with disabilities (Cook & Friend, 2010;
Dallmer, 2004; McDuffie, Mastropieri, & Scruggs, 2009). Research has also
shown that teacher-initiated encouragement of parent participation is a critical
factor in developing and sustaining collaborative home–school relationships
(Ferrara & Ferrara, 2005; Green, Walker, Hoover-Dempsey, & Sandler, 2007;
Hoover-Dempsey et al., 2005). In education, there are numerous definitions
of parent involvement. In this article, we refer to parent involvement as “parent
interactions with schools and with their children to promote academic suc-
cess” as defined by Hill et al. (2004, p. 1491). Please note that the terms parent
involvement, parent participation, and parent engagement are used somewhat
interchangeably throughout this article to connote equivalency in meaning.
The importance of collaborative home–school relationships for parents of
children with disabilities was recognized in 1975 with the passage of the Edu-
cation of All Handicapped Children Act (currently known as the Individuals
with Disabilities Education Improvement Act, 2005). Over the course of four
decades, the U.S. Congress has continued to mandate an emphasis on parent
participation and family engagement in meeting the educational needs of every
child, including children with disabilities.
Despite federal mandates and national efforts to increase parent partici-
pation in schools, research suggests that collaborative relationships continue
to be difficult for parents and teachers to achieve (Epstein, 2005; Forlin &
Hopewell, 2006; Hoover-Dempsey, Walker, Jones, & Reed, 2002; Murray,
Curran, & Zellers, 2008). The lack of research on determining best practices
for training teachers in effective ways of reaching out and encouraging parent
participation has contributed to poor outcomes (Seitsinger, Felner, Brand, &
Burns, 2008). Although school districts may have good intentions about pro-
viding parent involvement, many fall short in knowing how to engage parents
at school or at home. School leaders nationwide continue to be unsure of how
to create a supportive climate in which teachers are encouraged to initiate col-
laboration with parents (Stover, 2012). Additionally, few teachers are provided
in-service professional development aimed at cultivating skills to foster rela-
tionships with parents (Stover, 2012).
In higher education institutions, few teacher preparation programs provide
teacher candidates with adequate training in school, family, and community
partnership or strategies for initiating parent involvement (Ferrara & Ferrara,
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2005; Graue, 2005; Rodriguez-Brown, 2009; Weiss, Kreider, Lopez, & Chat-
man, 2005). Unfortunately, teacher preparation programs offer minimal direct
interaction with parents (Hedges & Gibbs, 2005), leaving preservice teachers
unprepared to initiate and cultivate collaborative relationships with parents.
If teacher candidates are not given opportunities to learn to collaborate with
parents while in college, how can they be expected to collaborate with parents
once they begin to teach? Teacher preparation programs need to include mul-
tiple opportunities for teacher candidates to interact with parents so that they
are able to gain the knowledge, skills, and confidence necessary to effectively
collaborate with their students’ families.
Some research studies have examined the impact of delivering coursework
that includes field experiences in parent engagement embedded in the training
that teacher candidates receive (Bingham & Abernathy, 2007; Curran & Mur-
ray, 2008; Forlin & Hopewell, 2006; Mahmood, 2013; Murray et al., 2008;
Murray et al., 2013; Schmitz, 2004). The findings from these studies sup-
port the critical importance of providing teacher candidates the opportunity
to engage in interactions with parents. Typically, the programs described in the
literature that have included parent engagement opportunities have involved
one parent speaking to and engaging with a class of teacher candidates. In the
current study, rather than listening to the perspective of just one parent, teach-
er candidates were first given the opportunity to learn about engaging with
parents at an orientation that was lead by a parent of a child with a disability. In
addition to the orientation, teacher candidate dyads in the program each vis-
ited the home of a different family to listen to parents’ narratives about the joys
and challenges of raising a child with a disability. Following their individual
family visits, teacher candidate dyads shared with their peers about their expe-
riences of listening to distinct families’ narratives. The design of the program
allowed teacher candidates the chance to hear about and learn from the experi-
ences of a greater number of parents. The development of the FAF program is
described in more detail in Collier, Keefe, and Hirrel (2015).
Purpose of the Study
This present study was designed to examine the impact the FAF program
had on teacher candidates’ dispositions toward and practices of home–school
collaboration. In order to measure the impact that listening to parents’ narra-
tives had on teacher candidates completing the FAF program in a course within
their master’s degree in special education, the following research questions were
addressed: (1) In what ways did teacher candidates make theory-to-practice
connections when reflecting on their experience of listening to parents’ stories
about raising a child with a disability? (2) Following the FAF experience, did
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teacher candidates report any change in their understanding and appreciation
of school–family partnerships? (3) Did the FAF experience have a long-lasting
impact on teacher candidates’ dispositions and teaching practices related to
parent involvement and family–school–community collaboration?
Method
This study was conducted over the course of a one-semester assessment class
(16 weeks) entitled Assessment of Diverse Learners with Learning & Behavioral
Exceptionalities. In this required course, teacher candidates are provided ex-
posure to a variety of assessment methods appropriate for individuals with
disabilities, including a wide range of instruments, which provide direction
for instruction as well as diagnosis. The focus of the course was to present an
overview of issues related to assessment for individuals with disabilities and to
develop more sensitivity toward parents when discussing the child’s assessments
and their involvement in their child’s education. The course was required for
the teacher candidates’ completion of the master’s program in special educa-
tion. Although the importance of family involvement is addressed throughout
the entire program, the decision to include the FAF experience in a required
assessment course ensured that the vast majority of teacher candidates would
have this experience because it was one of the graduate courses mandated for
the alternative license. This study was conducted with Institutional Review
Board (IRB) approval.
Participants
Participants in this study included 28 graduate-level students enrolled in
the graduate special education assessment course and 14 volunteer host fami-
lies affiliated with FAF (student demographic characteristics provided in Table
1; family demographics provided in Table 2). Pseudonyms are used for all
participants throughout this article. Because the graduate students were at var-
ious stages in the teacher licensing process, the term teacher candidates is used
throughout this article. Many teacher candidates were already teaching in their
own classrooms, either as licensed teachers or as students completing alterna-
tive licensure.
The 28 teacher candidates were assigned to pairs creating 14 dyads. Teacher
candidate dyads were then paired with a host family resulting in 14 matches.
The FAF organizers from the parent center randomly assigned the matches.
Families were recruited by FAF to participate in this research study. All par-
ents who participated in this study met the criteria of having at least one child
living within the family who had been diagnosed with a disability and having
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attended the FAF training, which included practice and feedback in the pro-
cess of learning to tell their families’ stories.
The first author of this study (henceforth, primary researcher) served as the
instructor for the graduate assessment course. The authors of this article, also
the researchers of the study, have expertise in two fields: two of the authors
have a background in special education, and the other author in linguistics.
Table 1. Demographic Characteristics of Teacher Candidates
Demographic Characteristics n(28) %
Gender
Male 5 17.9
Female 23 82.1
Ethnicity
Caucasian 17 60.7
Hispanic 5 17.8
African American 3 10.7
Other (Asian, Pacific Islander, Native American) 3 10.8
Participants Who Are Parents 16 57.2
Parent of a child with a disability 3 10.7
Parent of a child without a disability 13 46.5
Participant’s Community
Urban 22 78.5
Rural 6 21.5
Settings
In addition to the instruction of concepts customarily taught in the assess-
ment course, the primary researcher incorporated several FAF-related activities
into the course. These activities that encouraged student reflections about
learning from families were designed collaboratively by university faculty and
parents involved in the FAF program through the parent center. These activi-
ties are outlined below; for a more in-depth description of the collaboration
that was developed between the university and the parent center, see Collier,
Keefe, and Hirrel (2015).
The teacher candidates were given a two-hour in-class orientation session
co-taught by one adjunct family faculty and a parent center staff member with
support from the primary researcher. The parents who served as instructors at
the orientation each semester were called “family faculty” to reflect parity of
title with the university faculty. During the studied semester’s orientation, the
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adjunct family faculty and parent center staff member discussed FAF program
goals and philosophy, addressed topics pertaining to the dynamics of family
visits, and outlined the requirements for a reflection paper assignment. During
the initial in-class orientation, the family faculty member also shared her fam-
ily story. Students were given opportunities to ask questions and discuss issues
with the family faculty.
Table 2. Demographic Characteristics of Participating Families
Parent Demographic Characteristics n(23) %
Fathers 9 39.1
Mothers 14 60.8
Parent’s Ethnicity
Caucasian 17 73.9
Hispanic 5 21.7
Black 1 4.4
Parents With College Education 15 65.2
Single Parent Households 5 35.7
Annual Household Income Levels n(14) %
< $25,000 2 14
$50,000–$80,000 2 14
$80,000–$150,000 9 65
>$150,000 1 7
Children’s Disability Categories n(19) %
Learning Disability 3 16
Autism 3 16
Intellectual Disability 2 10
Other Health Impaired 6 32
Multiple Disability 2 10
Physical Disability 3 16
For the home visits, each host family was paired with a teacher candidate
dyad. The teacher candidates were instructed to view a meeting with a family
not as an interview but rather an opportunity to listen more broadly to the par-
ents’ narratives about raising a child with a disability. Teacher candidates were
permitted views into how the evaluation and determination of eligibility process
impacted parents and their children. The families and dyads arranged a meeting
with the family at a mutually agreeable time and location, with most occur-
ring in the family home. Due to the busy schedules of both the families and
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the teacher candidates, meetings were scheduled at a variety of times through-
out weekends as well as during evenings. Each home visit lasted approximately
two hours, with a few visits going as long as three hours. Sometimes the fami-
lies shared their narratives without their children in the room. Other families
shared their narratives with the entire set of family members present over the
course of eating dinner with the teacher candidates or while the family played a
board game as a way to engage the children. Each visit was unique, and teacher
candidates were asked not to hold preconceived ideas of how the visit would
unfold but to appreciate and learn from their own experience.
Following the meeting with their assigned family, each teacher candidate
wrote a reflection paper responding to the experience they had with their host
family. At the end of the semester, a wrap-up session was conducted with all
of the teacher candidates, the professor, the director of FAF, and FAF staff at
the parent center; no families were present. Each teacher candidate shared as-
pects of their home visit with the group and discussed how the experience had
impacted them. Teacher candidates were encouraged to discuss ways in which
they anticipated that their experiences might impact their current and future
teaching practices.
Data Collection
Three types of data were collected for this study: reflection papers, pre- and
post-questionnaire responses completed while taking the class, and follow-up
surveys taken three years after the completion of the class.
Reflection Papers
Following their home visits, each teacher candidate wrote reflections about
the narratives which families shared with them. In reflecting on their FAF vis-
its, the teacher candidates responded to their experiences and discussed how
they anticipated it might influence their future teaching practices.
Pre- and Post-Questionnaires
During the first week of class, teacher candidates were invited to fill out a
pre-questionnaire, and on the last day of the class, they were asked to complete
a post-questionnaire. These questionnaires were designed to assess students’
self-perceptions of their communication and listening skills, their level of un-
derstanding of the impact that a child’s disabilities can have on family dynamics,
and their capacity to empathize with both parents and their children with dis-
abilities. The pre- and post-questions were written to include the same content;
however, a slight variation in the wording was made with regard to tense for
some of the questions. The tense difference was necessary because in the pre-
questionnaire, the teacher candidates were asked about their expectations prior
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to the FAF experience, as opposed to the post-questionnaire, in which they
were asked to reflect back on their experiences during the semester (see Table 3).
Follow-Up Survey
Additionally, three years following the completion of the course, partic-
ipants were contacted through email with a follow-up survey. Only those
participants whose email contact information had changed and who could no
longer be contacted were excluded from participating in the follow-up survey.
The survey asked about the participants’ current teaching status and their long-
term perspectives of the impact that the FAF experience had on their classroom
teaching practices (see Table 4).
Data Analysis
Reflection Papers
The constant comparative method, as described by Lincoln and Guba
(1985), was used to analyze the data in the reflection papers. The researchers
read through the reflection papers several times, identifying phrases and sen-
tences that shared key words and common ideas. These units of thought were
cut and pasted from the transcripts onto index cards for thematic coding. The
primary researcher and second author of this study independently analyzed the
units of thought to identify preliminary themes. The two researchers compared
their thematic analyses, looking for agreement on important ideas and for po-
tential discrepancies. When discrepancies occurred, the researchers discussed
their perspectives, negotiated agreement, and sought consensus. To further as-
sess the trustworthiness of themes, a third researcher sorted a sample of the
units of thought into the negotiated themes. This led to further negotiations
and, ultimately, an agreement on the final themes and subthemes evident in
the reflection papers.
Pre- and Post-Questionnaire
Data were collected from student responses to items on the questionnaires,
and a database was compiled in an Excel spreadsheet. Means were calculated
from each of the Likert scale questions and graphs.
Follow-Up Survey
The responses from the follow-up survey provided data from which per-
centages were calculated. The follow-up survey served as triangulation with
the pre- and post-questionnaires and the teacher candidates’ reflections papers.
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Results
Reflection Papers
In their reflection papers, each teacher candidate shared unique experienc-
es and thoughts about the visit to the home of their assigned family. Despite
each family sharing different life events and individual experiences with their
visiting teacher candidate dyads, and despite the differences in the experiences
and backgrounds of the visiting teacher candidates, common thematic ideas
emerged in the student reflection papers. Three major themes were identified:
(a) parent perspectives on school–family interactions; (b) understanding the
complexities of families’ lives; and (c) teacher candidate realizations and im-
pact.
Theme 1: Parent Perspectives on School–Family Interactions
In their reflection papers, all of the teacher candidates emphasized the im-
portance of effective communication between families and schools by retelling
experiences that the parents shared during their visits. Some of the teacher
candidates discussed parents’ negative experiences related to communication
between the home and schools. As an example, one of the teacher candidates,
Alicia, shared a mother’s frustration by writing, “She is unsatisfied with their
(teacher’s) lack of communication…there are periods when she hears nothing
from them. She often doesn’t hear about student events until after they have
happened.”
Teacher candidates also shared parents’ positive perspectives and experienc-
es resulting from successful communication with schools. Abigail described the
benefits that the child from her home visit, John, had experienced as a result
of educators listening to his mother. Abigail wrote, “John is in a full inclusion
classroom with an educational assistant because the occupational therapist lis-
tened to the mother and found data to support John’s placement in the least
restrictive environment, and, subsequently, the school listened.” Abigail later
shared what she had learned from the mother’s experiences: “I could see at once
how valuable a habit of developing and maintaining good relationships and
communication can be.”
Many teacher candidates reported on parent experiences with communi-
cation about Individualized Education Programs (IEPs). Teacher candidates
shared parents’ feelings concerning the language used in IEP meetings. For
example, David described the requests that Kelly, the mother from the home
visit he attended, had made of the school. He shared, “[Kelly] has a few modest
requests…for the IEP process, she requests more friendly and common lan-
guage amongst the participants.” Another teacher candidate, Steven, described
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